Innholdsfortegnelse for May-23-15 i Billboard Magazine

THE DYNAMIC DUO OF Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea charge onto the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 29 with their duet “Pretty Girls.” Sales lead the way, accounting for 77 percent of the track’s chart points: It lands at No. 6 on Digital Songs with 96,000 first-week downloads, according to Nielsen Music. But radio is catching on too. The boastful single is “an event record,” says Charese Fruge, program director of KKHH Houston, which played the song 36 times in its first week out, helping fuel its No. 23 debut on the Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart. IHeartMedia top 40 stations spun the song hourly on May 4, leading to lots of positive listener feedback, says WIHT Washington, D.C., program director Tommy Chuck: “We think it’ll be a solid summer…

THE VOICE 2011-present Judges Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Gwen Stefani Breakout stars Cassadee Pope, Danielle Bradbery NASHVILLE STAR 2003-2008 Judges Blake Shelton, Bret Michaels, Jewel, John Rich, Tracy Gershon Breakout stars Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves SUNDAY BEST 2007-present Judges BeBe and CeCe Winans, Yolanda Adams, Kim Burrell Breakout star 2012 Grammy winner Le’Andria Johnson THE X FACTOR 2011-2013 Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Britney Spears Breakout stars One Direction (U.K.), Fifth Harmony…

DJ Steve Aoki joins forces with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti for the LAoki free concert on May 16 Several thousand revelers will fill the streets of downtown Los Angeles on May 16, when DJ Steve Aoki and special guests like Will.i.am and Travis Barker take the stage at the first LAoki free concert. Presented in conjunction with the city, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Dim Mak Records, fans are required to sign up for information on the Mayor’s Volunteer Corps in order to attend. Aoki, 37, and Garcetti, 44, sat down with Billboard to talk jazz, 1970s Japanese synthpop and, of course, cake. Steve, you’re paying for much of the concert out of your own pocket. What made you want to take this on? Aoki I wanted to do something big…

Alibaba Group elevated COO Daniel Zhang to the role of CEO. Jay Z and wife Beyoncé purchased a $2.6 million residence in New Orleans. The 13,292-square-foot property, built in 1925, previously served as a Presbyterian church and a ballet school. Paula Abdul signed with ICM Partners. 19 Entertainment founder and American Idol creator Simon Fuller listed his Beverly Hills home for $18.95 million. The five-bed, eight-bath mansion features a screening room, spacious wine cellar and guesthouse. Fiddler Johnny Gimble, who played with Merle Haggard and Carrie Underwood, died of complications from several strokes near his home in Dripping Springs, Texas. He was 88. The Darkness tapped Rufus Taylor, the son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor, as their new touring skins man. Perez Hilton (real name Mario Lavandeira) welcomed the birth…

IT’S EASIER TO BREAK RULES IF THE RULES WERE never there.” That, says Nathan McLay, is the defining ethos of Future Classic, the indie label that is at ground zero of Australia’s exploding, increasingly influential electronic music scene. With new stars like Flume, Chet Faker and Flight Facilities on its roster, Future Classic is topping charts, redefining the Down Under sound — long exemplified by rock groups like AC/DC and INXS — and putting Australia on the global electronic scene in a huge way . “There’s no road map for this kind of music here,” founder McLay, 37, adds, sitting in a dimly lit room in a downtown Sydney office, the label’s temporary home while its headquarters in the funky Redfern area undergo renovations. “There’s such a deep history of…

BRET MICHAELS “I wore a powder-blue tux that I thought looked good. They were flood pants, with platform boots — that’s all I’m going to say. Then I tried to throw the biggest-ever kegger hotel party , which didn’t take long to get busted. That was my first real encounter with the law. A keg party at a hotel always goes bad — at any age .” WIZ KHALIFA “ I showed up super late in a pink tux, just being cool. Me and my date were there for about five minutes, then we jetted.” ST. VINCENT “My prom was casino-themed, like James Bond blackjack. I had the worst stomachache from binge-drinking margaritas in the car, which you’re wont to do in Texas. I’m not sure what I wore but…

BEFORE THEY GRADUATE, MFA students at the Parsons School of Design in New York are required to take a class on how to give a good interview. Sitting barefoot and cross-legged on a floral couch in his apartment, Matt Dolan is one of the few recent alumni actually putting those mock trials to use — though he admits, “I’m not the best at it.” The reason behind the hype? The 28-year-old is among a handful of designers whose golden ticket came directly from Rihanna and Lady Gaga. “I have been given this opportunity, and I feel like it’s something I need to grab on to. This is my chance.”—Matt Dolan. In September 2014, Dolan presented a senior thesis collection comprised almost entirely of denim. “I’d never worked with [the material]…

STADIUMS The Rolling Stones head to the heartland with 15 shows on the Zip Code Tour, produced by AEG Live’s Concerts West touring division. Beginning May 24 at San Diego’s Petco Park, the trek will hit “places the guys have not been to in a long time,” says John Meglen, co-president for Concerts West. For some of these markets, this could be the last time the Stones come to town. “We haven’t heard any plans for these guys to say, ‘This is it,’ ” adds Concerts West co-president Paul Gongaware. “If they can’t keep it up, they’re not going to do it — they won’t ruin the legacy of the band. But right now, it’s just the opposite: They’re smokin’ it.”Also AC/DC (Aug. 22 to Sept. 28), Jason Aldean &…

JAMES BROWN JULY 12, 1982 “It was his first appearance on the show. I’ve never experienced anything like that JOHN HELLIWELL JULY 29, 1982 “He’s Supertramp’s sax player. He was the first guy to sit in with us, and it was his idea. We were tickled.” before or since.” CAROLE KING AUG. 26, 1982 “Her first appearance was huge for me since I’m such a fan. She’s such a nice lady.” SLY STONE FEB. 21, 1983 “We rented him a clavinet. It didn’t work. He hooked up a wah-wah pedal and played it anyway.” ERIC CLAPTON MAY 7, 1985 “We met him backstage at his show and he asked if he could sit in. That was monumental.”…

TWENTY ONE PILOTS Blurryface Fueled by Ramen THE GREAT THING ABOUT being a pop duo that treats genres like a toddler treats Legos is that even your mistakes are fascinating. Such is the case with Twenty One Pilots’Blurryface, the fourth album by Ohioan road warriors Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, and the follow-up to their 2013 breakout, Vessel. In a pop landscape where the term “hot mess” has gone from pejorative to prerequisite, Twenty One Pilots stand out. Blurryface is about as hot as a mess can get without becoming a toxic spill — even its missteps are a gas. One new musical left-turn stands out: Blurryface is brimming with reggae. “Ride,” “Polarize” and “Lane Boy” all take King Tubbyinspired dub detours; the lattermost becomes especially schizoid, as Joseph frenetically…

Sam Hunt has become one of the brightest new stars in country music, nabbing a pair of No. 1s on the Hot Country Songs chart while also owning the topselling country album of 2015 with Montevallo. 508K Montevallo surpasses a halfmillion in sales as the album moved another 15,000 copies in the week ending May 10, according to Nielsen Music. The set has been in the top 20 of the Top Album Sales chart for the last eight weeks. 31 “Take Your Time” rises 34–31 on Adult Top 40, as the former Hot Country Songs No. 1 begins to cross over to other formats: It bubbles under the Mainstream Top 40 chart with plays detected at 40 top 40 outlets. 11K As the top–selling country digital song of 2015, with…

Billboard Artist 100 Three Cheers For OMI OMI (above) enters the Billboard Artist 100 at No. 94 with the help of his song “Cheerleader,” which climbs 63-47 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated May 23. The breakout hit from the Jamaican popreggae artist, remixed by Felix Jaehn, spurs his start — and a 41 percent rise in overall activity — with digital sales accounting for 60 percent of his chart points. On Digital Songs, “Cheerleader” lifts 44-33 with a 33 percent gain to 35,000 downloads sold, according to Nielsen Music. The track’s U.S. breakthrough follows its global success, including its active two-week reign atop the Official U.K. Singles Chart. Meanwhile, Mumford & Sons rocket 83-1 on the Artist 100, logging the largest vault to the summit since the chart launched…

NOT 24 HOURS AFTER FOX dropped a pre-dawn bomb on May 11 announcing that American Idol, the venerable 14-year-old show that redefined music’s place on TV, would end with its 15th season, the mood backstage at its finale was, surprisingly, ebullient. “Sets of canceled shows aren’t pretty or fun, but Tuesday felt more like a celebration,” said a behind-the- curtains observer at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. “Nobody was depressed or morose. It wasn’t a funeral.” Idol in denial? Perhaps. Not only has rival The Voice caught up in overall TV viewers ( 13.5 million for the NBC franchise versus 10.7 million for Idol so far in 2015, according to Nielsen), but TV singing competitions as a whole are down more than 20 percent. Idol’s advertising revenue has nosedived, from $628 million…

HIP-HOP HADA LACKluster 2014, but 2015 is shaping up to be a banner year for the genre. Not only does it have two 500,000-prus-selling albums — D ra ke ’s If You’re Reading This It’ Γ00Laie and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly; in 2014 at this time there were none — butWiz Khalifa’s "See You Again" and Fetty Wap’s "Trap Queen" have respectively hit Nos. 1 and 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first time since 2009 that hip-hop tracks have held those spots. Even more impressive? Streaming, rather than radio or sales, is the prime mover behind rap’s growing Hot 100 presence, led by viral hits like "Trap Queen,’’ T-Wayne’s "Nasty Freestyle" and Silento’s "Watch Me." For example, on the May 23 Hot 100, 55 percent of…

ANTONIO “L.A.” REID HAS BEEN perched atop the label food chain for more than 25 years, so it’s not entirely surprising the music industry vet has succession on the brain. The only problem: “I can’t find enough people who want my job,” cracks the 58-year-old from his West Coast office at Sony Music’s Beverly Hills headquarters, bemoaning the bygone days of “great record men,” as he aspired to be. To be sure, Reid came up during a time when music business profits were ballooning — his in particular, as co-founder of Atlanta’s LaFace Records (with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds), and on the strength of multiplatinum smashes by TLC, Usher and Pink. BMG acquired the label and folded it into Sony in 2000, after which Reid would ascend to run Arista, the…

SIN CITY TEMPORARILY TURNED INTO THE CITY OF ROCK THANKS TO A TWO-DAY, 18-HOUR FETE that had 82,000 fans descend on an open-air, 40-acre festival ground located just off the Strip. And despite four main stages, the real draw came by way of three rock-themed streets (tailored to the United States, United Kingdom and Brazil), a Ferris wheel, a 64-foot-high zip line and — this being Vegas — a wedding chapel. The weekend also marked Rock in Rio’s stateside debut, after originating in Brazil in 1985, and with past iterations in Portugal and Spain. Highlights included sets from Theophilus London, who replaced Bleachers at the last minute, and Mexican pop-rock band Mana . Saturday’s main event came just after midnight, when — following a fireworks display and chants of “We…

Sydney singersongwriter-producer Hayden James infuses disco and house with falsetto croons, receiving big airplay on Australia’s tastemaking Triple J radio network. Electro-soul singerproducer George Maple, a Londonbased Aussie, has worked with Flume and racked up millions of SoundCloud clicks for her solo tracks. Sydney’s Wave Racer debuted his Nintendo 64–inspired sound with the double A-side “Rock U Tonite/Stoopid” and has remixed Panama and Flight Facilities.…

“I was hallucinating... I thought my family was involved in ISIS.” —SCOTT STAPP The Creed frontman opening up to People about his mental-health struggles. “I think you have to be ready for it.” —SEAN “DIDDY” COMBS The 46-year-old hip-hop mogul, who has had six children with three different women, on whether he’ll ever get married. “Am I in love? I’m young. I’m doing what young people should do.” —BECKY G The pop star at the Tomorrowland film premiere on her new boyfriend, singer Austin Mahone. “Rihanna? Beyoncé? How about Ri-yoncé!” —ANNA KENDRICK The Pitch Perfect 2 star when asked to choose her favorite of the two singers on NBC’s Today. “I knew American Idol would never last without me #CANCELLED.” —BRIAN DUNKLEMAN The former Idol co-host, who was fired after…

“I GO FULL THROTTLE WITH EVERYTHING. THAT’S THE WAY I AM.” WHEN FLORENCE WELCH, THE CHARISMATIC frontwoman for orchestral rock band Florence & The Machine, performs, she takes on a regal, shape-shifting, almost androgynous form, prowling around the stage with Mick Jagger’s louche gait one moment, then twisting her arms into witchy spirals like Stevie Nicks the next. Welch, 28, will use her long, delicate fingers to air-pick a harp, as if she is coaxing the notes out from the instrument with a magic spell. She wears giant capes with wings and jackets dripping with tassels, and covers herself with blooming roses onstage, signature flaming red-dyed hair flying. Her shows — she’s making the festival rounds this summer, from Bonnaroo to Governors Ball — can feel almost like tent revivals,…

DCADES BEFORE DEEPpocketed rock and pop stars embraced the Gulfstream V, there was the Starship, a former United Airlines Boeing 720 refurbished in the early 1970s by teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman and his manager, Ward Sylvester, as an airborne pleasure dome. The plane plied the skies in the service of, among others, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, The Allman Brothers, The Bee Gees, Elton John, Peter Frampton and Alice Cooper. One of the great artifacts of the cokeflecked, halter-topped, ’lude-dropping rock’n’roll gestalt of the ’70s — and probable inspiration for Austin Powers’ shag-a-delic private 747 — the Starship brimmed with gaudy-chic delights. There was a bedroom with a king-sized waterbed, a drawing room with a fake fireplace, a 30-foot brass-trimmed bar with built-in electric organ, a prehistoric video…

BESSIE Network HBO Director Dee Rees Airdate May 16 WHENEVER BESSIE SMITH SANG, SHE bellowed. Whenever she walked, she strutted. HBO’s decades-in-the-making biopic, Bessie, renders the legendary blueswoman’s sheer audacity in several magnetic scenes. In the film’s first two minutes, Smith, played with great verve and understanding by Queen Latifah, rejects an aggressive suitor during a back alley romp. In later scenes, she waves an ax while standing up to the Ku Klux Klan and then declines a Columbia Records executive’s contract offer, snapping, “What is a race record? The one where they put a coon on the front?” With director Dee Rees (Pariah) at the helm and Latifah in the starring role, Bessie boldly projects the joyful, tragic intensity of the Empress of the Blues, the most elite singer…

THIRD EYE BLIND “EVERYTHING IS EASY” MEGA COLLIDER “Roll me up like a joint,” sings Stephan Jenkins on the sugary “Everything Is Easy,” Third Eye Blind’s first single in six years. The band may never escape the shadow of its late-1990s heyday, but as “Easy” proves, its finesse with anthemic alt-rock hasn’t diminished. —RYAN REED MIGUEL FEATURING WALE “COFFEE” RCA The new version of “Coffee,” featuring Wale, plays like two tracks smushed together: The singer’s psych-soul musings are rudely interrupted by the rapper’s X-rated one-liners (“I let that soak in her bean”). Miguel’s sensuality is bold enough on its own, and this repackage doesn’t need any sweetener. —JASON LIPSHUTZ ASAP ROCKY “EVERYDAY” RCA Built around a sample of Rod Stewart’s 1972 track “In a Broken Dream,” Rocky’s “Everyday,” featuring Mark…

MUMFORD & SONS SCORE A SECOND NO. 1 on the Billboard 200 as the band’s third album, Wilder Mind, debuts atop the chart. The set, which features the group switching from its folkier roots to straight-ahead rock, bows with 249,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 10, according to Nielsen Music, with 231,000 of that sum consisting of traditional album sales. While that 231,000 sales launch certainly is substantial — and the third-largest sales week of 2015 behind the bows of Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (495,000) and Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (324,000) — it’s a significant drop-off from the arrival of 2012’s Babel, Mumford’s last album. Babel bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 600,000 copies sold — the…

ONE OF MADONNA’S BIGGEST HITS — the 1990 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 dance anthem “Vogue” — had surprisingly humble beginnings. “The whole thing was done on a shoestring budget,” says Shep Pettibone, the track’s co-writer and producer. Allotted just $5,000 by Warner Bros. Records to create what was initially slated as a B-side, he finished the song in three weeks, recording the then-31-year-old pop star’s vocals in a “basement on West 56th Street” in New York, where, he says, a closet had been converted into a vocal booth. Set to “Philly Salsoul”-style house music, the song’s lyrics and sumptuous black-and-white video, directed by future Academy Award nominee David Fincher (Gone Girl, The Social Network ), celebrated voguing, a style of dance popularized in New York’s mostly gay ballroom club…

For a show that was initially built on honoring the holy trinity of Whitney, Mariah and Celine, American Idol had a surprisingly large influence on a dramatically different pop genre: rock crossover. Belters from David Cook to Crystal Bowersox had success on the show when they married their beats to guitars. And Breakaway, the second album from first-season winner Kelly Clarkson, allowed her to define a strand of pop that had been on the ropes: feisty, guitar-based and female-fronted. Its hit-packed tracklist included credits from Avril Lavigne and eventual Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, but “Since U Been Gone,” her lightning-in-a-bottle collaboration with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, showed how guitars that sounded borrowed from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could be paired with show-stopping vocals. The song inspired covers from all…

The “Song of the Summer” has grown from an unofficial competition to an aggressive marketing strategy planned months in advance. With 2015’s battle about to begin —Billboard’s weekly Songs of the Summer chart compiles the Billboard Hot 100 data between Memorial Day and Labor Day — here is an early look at the contenders, based on chart action, label insights and educated guesswork. “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth Sure, it’s currently No. 1 on the Hot 100, but given the song’s wide lead over competitors on the chart, “See You Again” could be in for a long stay. Longevity is key to the final Songs of the Summer chart: At this time in 2014, eventual winner “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea ranked at No. 3 on the…

Memphis has long touted itself as the home of the blues, and now the music has a permanent address in the Bluff City. On May 8, The Blues Foundation threw open the doors of its new headquarters, a renovated former storage facility that includes office space for the nonprofit’s small staff as well as a hall of fame. Located just a few blocks from the Mississippi River in downtown’s trendy arts district, the building overlooks the Lorraine Hotel — the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination and now home to the National Civil Rights Museum. The building is a swan song for foundation president/CEO Jay Sieleman, who’ll step down in September after a dozen years at the helm of the 35-year-old organization (which produces the annual Blues Music…

“I FELT THE SOUTHERN CULTURE wash over me like dirty hobo bathwater,” The Bronx’s Matt Caughthran told the crowd gathered at Central Park in downtown’s Old Fourth Ward. “And I’m happy to say I’ve embraced it.” The Los Angeles punk band was one of more than 70 acts that landed in Hotlanta for the three-day (and third annual) festival. The indie-rock-leaning lineup included The Pixies, Ryan Adams, Tame Impala, ZZ Ward and The Strokes, whose frontman Julian Casablancas had trouble understanding the fest’s name: “What does Shaky Knees mean anyway?” he asked the crowd. “Been asking all day. Nobody will tell me.” But it was Americana bluegrass troupe Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor who summed up the festival’s mission: “All hell done broke loose in Georgia.”…

Flom Sticks With Universal Jason Flom’s Lava Records is in the final stages of reupping its distribution deal with Universal Music Group, after interested bidders like Sony and Warner balked at the label’s reported price tag of $100 million. Lava’s roster includes Jessie J, Black Veil Brides and Lorde, whose contract with Universal New Zealand would have prevented her from moving to another label group. Flom and reps for Universal declined to comment. The Energizer Bieber Justin Bieber can make a party even if it’s over. On May 7, the “Where Are U Now” singer revived the revelry at Nylon magazine’s party for its Young Hollywood issue by arriving with a gaggle of women in their 20s, just as the BCBGenerationsponored soiree at Hyde Sunset Kitchen in Los Angeles was…

Eleven years after its last album, De La Soul turned to fans for a comeback. The legendary rap trio announced earlier in May that it had raised more than $600,000 on Kickstarter for a new LP — the second-highest amount ever for a music project on the site. Also on tap? Two limited-edition Nike kicks, a 10thanniversary follow-up to the trio’s 2005 Dunks, which featured holographic details. De La’s Dave, 43, explains the group’s late-career renaissance. Why Kickstart your new album? We didn’t feel comfortable getting back in bed with a label and anybody sticking their fingers in. We felt like the people who have faith in our product without any questions would be fans. People are believing in us — you can’t beat that. Were you worried that it…

1| THE THREE TENORS $20,172,223 *(adjusted for inflation) ACTUAL GROSS $13,404,350 LOCATION Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. DATE July 20, 1996 Founded in 1990 to raise money for the International Leukemia foundation after Spanish singer Jose Carreras beat the disease, The Three Tenors became an undisputed juggernaut, taking classical music to previously unseen commercial heights during their lucrative 1990s run. In addition to smashing classical sales records with more than 23 million albums sold, the trio routinely sold out the biggest stadiums on the planet, individually earning roughly $500,000 per appearance. Scheduled during the height of their popularity, this record-setting show at the Meadowlands featured the Tenors’ road-tested mix of beloved arias and standards like “Moon River.” It took place during their 1996 tour, for which the maestros pulled down…

“THE SECRET I FINALLY LEARNED, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, IS JUST STAY LOOSE WITH THIS STUFF,” says Paul Shaffer. “Swing with whatever happens onstage, because everybody else is.” Whether playing “(Push Push) In the Bush” as former first lady Barbara Bush’s walk-on music or blithely asking Julia Roberts if she was “getting laid these days,” the unflappable Shaffer, 65, has provided remarkably adroit musical and comic counterpoint — often in a faux Vegas lounge act patois — to the late-night adventures of David Letterman for 33 years. That gig will come to a close on May 20, when Letterman, Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra that the latter leads tape the final episode of Late Show With David Letterman, ending the longest run by a latenight TV host in history (when…

It has been two decades since Faith No More — whose innovative mix of heavy rock with rap, electronica, jazz and more made it one of the most influential and out-there bands of the late-’80s/early-’90s alt-rock scene — issued its last album and subsequently broke up. But since reuniting in 2009 to play sporadic shows, the Bay Area-based act has gathered new steam, leading to Sol Invictus (out May 19 on the band’s own Reclamation Records), a characteristically eccentric addition to its catalog. 47-year-old lead singer Mike Patton — who has tackled everything from film scoring to video-game voiceovers to singing mid-century Italian pop as a solo artist — joins keyboardist Roddy Bottum, 51, and bassist Billy Gould, 52, to discuss the band’s second life. When Faith No More first…

DECADES BEFORE AMERICAN MUSIC fans flocked to Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, the United Kingdom already boasted a thriving and diverse festival scene, one that has only increased in size, scope and ambition in recent years. This summer there are more than 500 different music festivals scheduled across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, ranging from family-run events to the granddaddy of them all — Glastonbury, now in its 33rd edition. “We’ve been doing festivals here longer than a lot of other countries,” says Alt-J vocalist Gus Unger-Hamilton, whose band will headline the Latitude Festival on July 17. “People in the U.K. really get what they are about. We have an instinctive feeling for them — relaxing, getting drunk, having fun and seeing bands.” Beginning with Glastonbury, 10 of the best…

JIDENNA’S NEW ‘CLASSIC’ Jidenna makes his Billboard Hot 100 debut at No. 89 with the swanky “Classic Man” (featuring Roman GianArthur). Backed by singer Janelle Monae through her Wondaland Records imprint (distributed by Epic), the clubby R&B track lifts 36-29 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in its fourth week. Born in Wisconsin and raised for a period in Nigeria, the singer is currently based in Brooklyn. ‘GREYHOUND’ BOUNDS Country singer Ashley Clark is striking out on his own thanks to an assist from superstar producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange (AC/DC, Shania Twain). Clark, who previously scored chart action as part of the family groups Sons of Sylvia and The Clark Family Experience, is bubbling under the Country Airplay tally with the Lange-produced “Greyhound.” Clark’s debut EP for I.R.S. Nashville…